Who doesn’t dream of going on a vacation each year? Away from the everyday hassles of life and work. Spending some time alone, with friends or family, in a lovely place, with nothing to worry about. Alas, this is a luxury not everyone can afford. Or so thats what you may think. In reality, anyone can save for a vacation and it is not super difficult. Let’s go through a couple of habits that can help you stop dreaming about that vacation you have been wanting to go on for so long and actually go! Stick to the habits outlined below and you will find it very easy to save money, reach your financial goal, and travel.

Budget your vacation

The first step of saving for a vacation is to determine how much you expect it will cost. Include every little thing in your estimation: plane tickets, fuel consumption, hotels, meals, souvenirs, entertainment, and so on. Once you have a total, make a plan to reach your budget and stick to it.

Separate savings account

Having a separate account solely for the purpose of saving for a vacation ensures that you are clear on how much you have managed to stow away and how far or close you are from achieving your goal. You will be more focused on growing that account and will be able to track your savings easily. A good idea is to have automated savings set up so that each month, or week, a certain amount of money will be pulled from your checking account right into your savings account. This will help you accumulate funds quickly!

Get another job

You could work another job, part time, to cough up extra cash. If you do this, make sure to save every penny you make from your second job for your trip. You were able to make do with one job’s salary before so I am pretty sure you can continue living on one salary and put those extra earnings into your savings.

Give up on luxuries

Your savings may not add up to much at first so you will need to add to your savings in other ways. You do not want to work at saving for years before finally being able to splurge on a vacation. Give up luxuries for a month or two and see how much you end up saving. You do not need to buy that $5 coffee every day and you don’t need to eat out either. Remember having to save up during college to avoid borrowing more loans then you already had taken for tuition fee? You may have to get into that routine once again, though not for that long. Surely you can give up some of your extravagances to be able to afford a vacation.

Plan your spending in advance

Doing this will make sure that you do not overspend. When you go shopping for groceries or otherwise, you tend to buy things you do not even need because you do not have a plan. Avoid that. Make a list of the things you need to purchase and stick to it. Make one shopping trip a week and buy everything you will need for that week, instead of only buying a few things each time you go to the store, causing you to go to the store quite often. Those impulse shopping trips will make you spend more and you are more likely to buy things you do not need.

Get credit card rewards/points

If you use a credit card for purchasing the various necessities of life you will want to look into the rewards program that your card might be offering. Pile up these rewards and points and cash them out all at once or use them toward plane tickets and maybe hotel discounts.

Visit places during their off-season

Visiting places during their off seasons will help you get a better deal. The fewer number of people going to a particular destination means the rates will be much more reasonable than when there is a huge crowd.

If you are longing for a vacation but dare not dream about it due to affordability, there is hope for you. Follow these tips, straighten out your finances at the earliest, and start saving. Happy travels!

Author bio:

Batool Ali is a Passionate blogger who loves to write on Finance and Student Career Building related topics.